Passing, Chapter Two Summary

Irene recalls shopping in Chicago on a hot day. Hot and feeling faint, she goes to the top of the Drayton Hotel where there is a breeze. Enjoying her cold tea, solitude, and coolness, she sees a rather elegant white woman, who sits down, her male companion bidding her goodbye.

The woman finally gets up and approaches Irene, saying she thinks they know one another. She addresses Irene with the childhood name of "Rene," but not until Clare laughs does Irene remember her. Irene recalls last seeing Clare when relatives took her away after her father's funeral. She recalls the rumors of Clare being seen with rich white men, and the implication among her friends that Clare was selling herself for a great deal of money. The gossipers had mentioned Clare "having" way.

Clare asks Irene what people have...